Need help from military folks-blank fireing?

What difference does it make if they are firing blanks or live ammunition? If it is coming from a military base, you can rest assured it is being done in a safe manner.

If you're hearing it from their range area, it's live fire. Blanks make a very different noise than live ammo, and I'd be surprised if you could hear blanks being fired over a distance.

When I was still active we ran all our drills in three phases. Dry fire, blank fire, live fire. This ensured that by the time live rounds were flying about we had covered all areas of safety concern. We also had certain training areas designated as blanks and simulation rounds firing only. These were close quarters combat training areas where live ammo would detract from the training. Lastly blanks are used in all force on force training, wouldn't want to use live ammo when your buddies are charging the hill you are defending.

As far as how loud blanks are, I'm not sure. But I could have sworn that indoors our blanks were louder than bullets. Especially the machine guns.

Question answered.

I don't know for a fact they still use it but MILES gear is used with blanks as well. The blanks are used to trigger a laser emitter that scores hits on detectors worn on the body for force on force training and some times they just use blanks in training because its hard to get people to play the enemy when someone will be shooting live ammo at them.

What you're hearing is probably live fire, especially if it's coming off a square range. Blanks are not as loud as the live ammunition they simulate. Ear protection isn't even worn with 5.56mm blank rounds. 7.62mm and up does require ear pro.

JohnBiltz, MILES gear is still in use. The original stuff from the 80s is still in circulation, but there are newer, lighter versions floating around too.

I work on a army base. The blanks may be not as loud but you can still hear them from a pretty good distance. And they shoot piles of them on a convoy reaction course. It is fun to put the links and empty blank brass back together.